Maybe you’ve read all the stories this year about energy efficiency: tax credits for windows, refrigerator rebates, home weatherization programs for low-income households, no-interest loans for those who have the bucks for big-ticket items like a new water heater.

And maybe you’ve wondered: Do I qualify? And where do I call to sign up?

For most people, it’s been hit or miss trying to find out, but residents in Ramsey and Washington counties now have a new Web site they can use to see what programs might help them make their homes more energy efficient for the least amount of money.

The site, EnergySmartsPay.com, is a free screening tool that will help people sort through 17 programs offered by nine organizations.

It was created as a result of collaboration earlier this year by the two counties, the city of St. Paul, the Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington Counties and several east metro nonprofit organizations that deliver energy-efficiency and conservation programs.

The organizations that contributed data to the site hope EnergySmartsPay.com will become the first stop for people looking for a little help making their homes more energy efficient.

Low-income residents usually qualify for the most aid, but the Web site isn’t just for them. Its programs run the gamut from the low and no cost to ones for which middle-class homeowners might qualify.

By answering a series of questions, the Web site guides people to programs that might offer the most help, said project manager Kevin Adams, who also is outreach media coordinator for energy-assistance programs at the Community Action Partnership.

The tool, which went live in late February but hasn’t had much publicity, does not guarantee aid. Nor does it collect personal or identifying information, Adams said. It’s merely designed to serve as a guide to point people to the right organization and programs.

As a screening tool, the site is unique in the Twin Cities, according to Adams. The east metro organizations are asking their counterparts in other metro counties to join, Adams said.

The genesis for the Web tool was a meeting organized by St. Paul-based Community Action Partnership in February.

Catherine Fair, director of energy assistance programs for the Community Action Partnership of Ramsey and Washington Counties, invited officials from the organizations running every conceivable program on energy assistance, conservation, weatherization, rebates and tax credits to brainstorm the best way to organize their information and get it out to homeowners and renters.

“We had to know who had what so we weren’t duplicating what someone else was doing,” she said.

The organizations were right in thinking the massive infusion of federal stimulus dollars for energy-conservation programs last year would trigger unprecedented interest.

Conservation program workers were besieged with calls and scrambled to sort out the people seeking aid.

Some needed help from federally funded programs for low-income people. Others made too much money to qualify for those programs, but maybe they could get a rebate if they bought an energy-efficient water heater or a tax break on new windows for a house.

“We’ve got all these energy-efficiency programs out there with different qualifications and no way to send people to the right one,” said Chris Duffrin, executive director of the Neighborhood Energy Connection, a St. Paul nonprofit.

His program has examples. The agency last year started “Home Energy Squads” that send roving teams of workers to homes in St. Paul to perform simple conservation measures, from installing programmable thermostats to swapping out light bulbs.

But the NEC also administers a deferred-loan program that allows moderate-income homeowners to borrow money for insulation, air sealing and heating-system replacements at no interest and no payments until the owner sells the home.

But that program is only for suburban Ramsey County homeowners, even though NEC’s offices sit in the heart of St. Paul. The Home Energy Squads work only within city boundaries.

Representatives from St. Paul and the nonprofits admitted they sometimes didn’t know about programs outside their own organizations.

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